An online site for the western collector of antique bottles, gold rush collectables and early western material culture

Monday, January 1, 2018

The Eureka & Old Zach Clasps

W.T.
& Co.

﻿

The first time I saw
this California Gold Rush rococo revival masterpiece I was completely
overtaken by its beauty. This clasp draws more attention than most and is
recognized by collectors as the top California Gold Rush clasp. The foliate
edges & 31 stars surrounding the EUREKA seal are unique to this clasps
design. Many of these have casting variations on the front as well as on the
back & none are exactly the same. Some of these are W.T. & Co. back
marked while others are not. The W.T. & Co. tongues have a T. cast in the
back. This may have represented the correct location of the top when this was
created.

Typically speaking a
back mark such as this would be from the manufacturer. It would be odd to have
a belt manufacturer request to have his abbreviated company name cast
on the back. Other clasps that are recovered in the same
context as the EUREKA are marked very clearly for the consumer.
Bondy Brothers belt manufacturers, W. Taussig , Pollack Brothers ,
(Pollock) have listings in directories and newspapers describing their
occupation. None of the known 1850s clasps recovered in California
are from companies who stamped or cast their own brass clasps to date.

To my knowledge the W.T.
& Co. back mark was first mentioned to be the abbreviation for William
Taussig & Co. in the 1996 book titled American Military Belt Plates.I have been skeptical of it being the mark of
William Taussig & Co. for quite some time. In the last few
months I worked for many hours to come up with something solid in my
research & at one point thought the mark may be attributed to the
pioneer brass foundry of William Thompson Garratt & Co. of San Francisco. I
waded through everything I could find and I had a change of thought. If I can’t pin down W.T. & Co. maybe I
could unlock the mystery of the other known W.T. & Co. clasp.

Notice the six pointed
stars as seen on the EUREKA clasp and many others.

California's Admission Day event on September
9, of 1850 was a very important event and since the seal created by Major
Garnett had already been adopted on September 29, 1849 at the
Constitutional Convention in Monterey California. This time frame would fit in
perfectly with what is to come knowing these two clasps were produced during
the early part of the California Gold Rush. The EUREKA seal depicted on a clasp
would have been known to most in California by late 1850 and I felt this other
clasp may have been created for another well known event in United States
history.

Image courtesy Michael O’Donnell

I started by carefully studying each object depicted on the
clasp and making a note of them. I decided to start with the center or tongue portion
first since that is where the main subject is typically placed. The following
information I gathered is as follows.There is a mounted military officer with a cocked hat or wheel hat and
sheathed sword. His right hand extended leading rank of infantry into
battle. I believe what is behind his right hand is actually a gun or piece
of artillery on a hill top. The horse is quite beautiful with a
flowing tail and perfect gate. Next we see a rank of soldiers advancing toward
slanted masonry fortifications to our left. The inner belt loops are
spread wing federal eagles. There isn’t much room left for any more American
Patriotic motifs. At first glance I noticed these fortifications resembled
those present in famous battles of the Mexican American war,
1846-1848

The wreath portion of this clasp is
truly amazing. Many of the elements on this clasps wreath are depicted in
the poster above of Rough & Ready and battles of the Mexican
American War. A star at the top and bottom , Unfurled United States flags on
the left and right flank , drums, Trumpet or bugle, crossed
cannons , saber for cavalry and musket for infantry would be
recognizable to anyone and would suggest a special victory or event for a
V.I.P. such as Major General Zachary Taylor running for presidency .

Notice the likeness of Major General Zachary Taylor and his celebrity war horse “Old Whitey” & the patriotic United States motifs which appear on the brass clasp.